Syrian Ambassador: Extending European measures on Syria and implementing “Caesar Act” constitutes a crime against humanity

Syria’s permanent representative to the UN in Geneva, Ambassador Houssam el-Din Ala, reiterated today that the European Union extended its unilateral economic measures against Syria in the midst of the Corona pandemic and in parallel with the application of the so-called “Caesar Act”that imposes an economic blockade on the Syrian people and practices economic terrorism. The European measures aim at hampering the development and reconstruction efforts in Syria and that represents a crime against humanity.

Prior to adopting a draft resolution on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic by the Human Rights Council, Ambassador Ala delivered a statement in which he described the Western countries lamenting over the humanitarian situation in areas controlled by terrorist groups as hypocrisy due to their imposition of an economic blockade on the entire Syrian people. The Ambassador denounced the council’s disregard of American practices and statements that boast of the US’s role in impoverishing the Syrian people and prolonging their humanitarian crises through the so-called “Caesar Act” and by looting oil and burning agricultural crops to deprive Syria of its economic capabilities.

Ambassador Ala stressed that addressing the humanitarian crises that the Syrian people are suffering from can’t be taking place in the conferences held in the absence of the Syrian government, or by pressuring the United Nations to prevent it from supporting development efforts and obstructing the reconstruction process. The crisis also can’t be tackled through imposing political conditionality on humanitarian aid and seeking to direct it across the borders to the areas controlled by terrorist groups and separatist militias to deprive most of the Syrian people of them, and not by disturbing the efforts to return the displaced Syrians to their homeland.

Ambassador Ala stressed that the Council’s emphasis on strict respect for the sovereignty, independence, unity, and territorial integrity of the Syrian Arab Republic is inconsistent with those decisions ’neglect of war crimes committed by the Turkish regime which is destroying historical heritage, stealing economic resources, and implementing systematic Turkish measures in the northern Syrian regions. The Council’s decisions are also inconsistent with ignoring the American threat for the unity and territorial integrity of Syria through the support provided by the American occupation forces to the separatist militias in the northeast of Syria and to the terrorist groups in Al-Tanf and Al-Rukban.

He underscored the Turkish regime’s continued provision of direct military support and protection to Takfiri organizations that are internationally classified as terrorist entities linked to “ISIS” and al-Qaeda such as Jabhat al-Nusra Front and the Guardians of Religion Organization and the participation of the occupied Turkish forces in leading and supporting the operations of those terrorist organizations and their attacks on the sites of the Syrian army and on civilians. The Turkish practices violate understandings and agreements of Astana and Sochi and will enforce the presence of these terrorist organizations and their Turkish supporters in Idlib and change it into an epicenter   of international terrorism. He indicated that in light of this reality the international community has the duty to support the efforts and responsibilities of the Syrian state in combating terrorism and occupation and protecting its lands and citizens from its crimes.

Ambassador Ala concluded his statement by emphasizing that insisting on submitting non-consensual decisions that do not have the approval of the state concerned nor the full support of the members of the Human Rights Council will make decisions of the Council lack legitimacy and credibility and will classify them as decisions“separate from reality”.

The Human Rights Council concludes its forty-third session today by adopting the presented resolutions, including a resolution criticizing the ongoing Israeli violations of human rights of the people of the occupied Syrian Golan and another resolution condemning Israeli colonial settlement in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem and in the occupied Syrian Golan and the Israeli attempts to reinforce the occupation of these lands in violation of the relevant Security Council resolutions.

Inas Abdulkareem